A New Game
by EhxSomeGuy
Summary: Once a game that helped them forget their past, players are trapped in ALO. How will they survive a second death game? Maybe with the help of new friends, and maybe not thanks to new enemies. Maybe just with each other.
1. Chapter 1, Parts 1&2

**A/N: First fan fiction, tell me any suggestions. This is a free write, no planed story so ideas are encouraged. Enjoy! (There is a cross-over of a couple Original Characters, but not a Full cross-Over)**

Prolog:

As all the players of ALfheim Online stood in the City in the Tree, Yggdrasil, silence took them over. It happened again. How? How did someone take control? The new version of the AmuSphere should've prevented this. But standing before everyone, the one person who could cast away all the happiness these carefree fairies felt not hours ago, was the self-proclaimed Oberon, The Fairy King. Sugou.

Chapter 1, Part 1: The Hell of Our Past Selves

[4 Hours Prior]

3rd P.O.V~

'_Is it the weather? No. Is it the people I'm with? No._' Kirito thought as he and his 5 friends, sister, in-game wife, and daughter soared through the air. For some reason, Kirito was more happy then normal. He tried to figure it out, but he just couldn't tell what it was.

Kirito and company had just finished a quest for the day, which none tried hard to remember considering the dull payout and boring mission. They were flying to New Aincrad's 22nd floor to hang out at Kirito and Asuna's home. It was starting to get late into the day, but with it being Summer for the students of the group and slow work for Agil and Klein, they had decided to play late.

'_Hmm, maybe it's just that everything has been... Uneventful. Wait, why would I be happy about that?'_ Kirito thought as he let his hand fall to touch the clouds with his fingertips. '_Maybe a nap? Yeah, that sounds good. Oh, and food, food is good too- wait! I'm way of track'._ As Kirito continued to let his mind wonder, he blocked out the blacksmith yelling at him.

"Hey, Kirito! You lazy freak are you even paying attention?!"

"Hm?" Kirito was pulled to reality just in time to see what was happening. While being spaced put, they had all flown to Aincrad's first floor, but Kirito only flew face-first into a large building at the edge of the Town of Beginnings.

"Why?" Kirito asked the game-gods, trying to blame someone other then himself for his failure. His wings timed out and he fell 20ft and his body found the ground quickly.

"I'm just going...to..lay down..." He managed to breath out before closing his eyes and laying down.

"Daddy! This is no time for sleeping!" A small Pixie yelled at him after landing on his head. The rest of the group gently landed on the ground next to him.

"Well, the Warp Gates aren't far from here, this should do" The large chocolate skinned Axe-Weilder said after picking up Kirito and slinging him over his shoulder.

"Isn't he just over-exaggerating, just a little but?" The small Cait Sith known at Silica quietly said while holding her bright blue dragon, Pina.

"Don't worry, he just can't party tonight!" Liz said while bouncing along the street with the rest of her friends. Kirito seemed to open one eye to the statement, but, before retaliating to the comment, was very quickly shot down after his girlfriend hit his head back down, knocking him clean out.

"Don't act hurt and try to react when someone brings up a party Kirito-Kun!" The blue haired Undine said while walking with her arms crossed, an annoyed look crossing her face.

"Yeah, daddy!" Yui quickly shared the same look as her mother, while sitting on Asuna's shoulder.

Kirito's cousin/ little sister walked slightly behind the rest chatting with Sinon, the aqua-haired archer/ Cait Sith, about how they were glad they had already finished the 30 floors that were currently out in New Aincrad.

The whole grouped walked for another while until they finally arrived at Asuna and Kirito's home on the 22nd floor of New Aincrad. With the sun setting behind them, they entered the home one by one (not including Kirito who had fallen asleep by this point over Agil's uncomfortable shoulder, hoping to avoid the wrath of his girlfriend). Kirito has set down (dropped) on the floor, the only people seeming to notice being Suguha, Sinon, and Silica. But they quickly ignored him to talk to everyone in the living room of the home. They continued to talk about the real world and in-game adventures for what seemed like hours. Happy. They were happy. Even when Kirito woke up after a decent 2 hours, they kept on talking, laughing, telling stories, and just being alive.

'_Maybe this was it?'_ Kirito thought to himself as he laid on the floor, listening to his friends. He checked his menu for the time. 10 P.M. They had been doing this for almost 3 hours, not including the hour to get to the house. 'Gotta make sure we don't all stay logged in too late' Kirito thought.

*Clang*

"A bell?" Asuna asked confused

"Maybe an event?" Liz shrugged it off, drinking the tea that had been brought out for everyone.

*Clang*

"Well, it's not a glitch or a bug." Stated Suguha, also drinking her tea.

Nostalgia washed over everyone (except Sinon and Suguha) as the bell continues to toll. It rang for a minute straight, then they were all overtaken by a blue light. They all heard their cups smash on the floor as they were teleported out of the house.

"What the-" Klein was cut of while yelling.

*Clang*

"-hell!"

They all looked around. Where were they? How did they get they. They all asked themselves questions, but none found answers. More and more players were teleported to their location, which was were exactly? They all started to realize that they were at the City in the Sky, Yggdrasil.

"What's going on?"

"Hey, I was on a quest!"

Shouts and complains could be heard all around, but only one stood out.

"Who the hell is that!?"

Kirito and his friends all looked up to see a man flying in the sky. He hovered atleast 100ft above everyone with full, white feathered wings. His face was shadowed, but his green and gold robes were easily seen, along with his bright gold crown.

"Hello, I'm going to say that most of you are confused right now, yes?"

No one replied, no one wanting to dignify his with an answer.

"This summer, the new AmuSphere Version 3 came out, which was mandatory to play ALfheim Online. This new device is currently being used to guaranty that all of the 20,000+ players currently online stay logged into ALfheim Online. This device, is essentially a NerveGear Revamped to work much more fluently and contain much more data. Along with that.." -The figure pulled up a menu and a large menu screen appeared in the sky, showing what he was doing to everyone else. He put in a series of commands, and a warning appeared, flashing red over the screen- "...it is now keeping everyone in the game" All of the SAO survivors quickly pulled up there menus, hands flying to the log out button. What they saw made there nightmares come back. Or what they didn't see. The log out button... It wasn't there. Kirito quickly pulled his group close, keeping away from the progressively more agitated players. All of his friends stared at the Man in the Sky in disbelief. Asuna held onto Kirito's hand tightly, but Kirito couldn't help but think of all those years ago. He couldn't help but think of the hell they all endured. A deep voice spoke up again. It was they man who gave Kirito the urge to fly up to him and stab him down. But his wings weren't working, no ones were.

"Do not panic, this is now no longer just a game, this is my world. If you're HP hits Zero here, your brain will be destroyed in the Other World, killing you. The only way to leave this world, is by beating all 100 floors of New Aincrad, which I have now released." The man, or monster if you prefer, hit a button on his menu, and the large screen produced, in green solid letters, the words {Map Updated}. " As people log on, they too will be trapped with you, though the news is spreading quickly already as I have stated all of this in the 'Other World' (why was he not just saying the real world? Yui thought.) before coming and telling all of you. This is a declaration by Your very own Fairy King, Oberon!"

Oberon then lifted his head, causing the shadow that covered is face to leave. It was clear after seeing his right, distraught red eye who this sadistic monster was.

"SUGOU! YOU BASTARD!" Kirito and Asuna screamed in Unison.

The rest of the crown was silent. Oberon looked at the pair, the smile he had just been wearing grew to an unrealistic size. He then exclaimed to the crowed of people. (never breaking eye contact with the two)"Welcome to My World!" Blue lights consumed everyone in the city, and they quickly realized they had all been teleported to their original locations.

[Kirito and Asuna's living room]

Kirito's P.O.V~

Silence. No one spoke. None of the 9 of us had the ability to. So we did what we needed to. We thought. It felt like years of silence, sadness, dread, sorrow, pain, it all washed over us.

Trapped.

We were trapped. We understood and, though it hurt, we believed it. Why? Because we were forced to believe it almost 4 years ago. She spoke first.

"You all did this once, right?" The voice that pierced the silence belonged to my little sister. "What do we need to do first?" The blonde Sylph stood up, hitting her fist downward into her stomach-high palm.

'How is she taking this so well?' I thought. 'Wait, no one...no one is freaking out in here. Are we...are we all ok with this?'

"Calm." That voice. That was the voice of the former Sub-Commander of the KoB. Not Asuna. The "Flash"

"We need to be calm. That takes priority" she continued. As she spoke, Liz walked over to Silica, we was about to crush Pina, and wrapped her arms around her. We all sat, thinking of what to do.

"You guys don't think he's serious, do you?" Klein asked. No one answered, we already understood what had happened. Asuna tried to speak up, but Yui shouted something that made everyone shutter in our seats.

"413 players just joined at once"

"What!" Who's voice was that, it took a minute to realize it was my own.

"413 players! Why the hell are they joining!?" No one answered me, but it was because no one knew this time.

"Yui, how many players were online when the bad man gave us the message?" Asuna asked, trying no to upset her daughter (she sometimes forgot her daughter was an extremely advanced A.I, not an actual child).

"20,253." Yui replied, thinking hard"

Asuna gulped "And..and how many now?"

"19,985, not including the new 413." Yui said, then she laid in her mother's arms.

'268 people. That's how many have left this world already. This isn't real, right?' Silence crawled back, but Sinon blurted out something before it could take over.

"Wait, why didn't you count I'm the new players?" She asked puzzled toward Yui.

"The extra 413 players are from a different server, there data seems to be switching still."

"But, ALO is all one server." Agil lifted his head, speaking in a stern yet confused voice.

"The format data is different from that of normal ALO servers." Yui calmly stated.

"Maybe we should talk about something else." Sinon said, noticing Silica starting to shake and curl up. I started to speak up.

"Let's all rest for the night, it's already 11. We should talk in the morning. You can all stay here for the night if you want." I looked over to Asuna, who's hand was rubbing the back of Sugu, and received a slow nod of approval.

"I think I'll take up on that offer." Klein stated, heading over to the kitchen and getting out a wine bottle. Slowly everyone agreed to stay the night. It was late, so we all decided to just continue this talk tomorrow, and went to find a place to sleep. Asuna, Yui, and I took the main room obviously, and everyone else split between extra rooms, couches, and floors (atleast for Klein). Though we all went to try to sleep, I doubt anyone truly slept that night. That night, that was the first night back in Hell.

Chapter 1, Part 2: The Collision of Two Worlds

[Sometime in the night]

3rd P.O.V~

_'It's ok...It's ok'_ Silica laid on a couch near the front door. The young Cait Sith was next to her best friend, the pink hair leprechaun Liz, and she was currently trying to make herself not freak out.

*tap*

A light noise hit the front door. _'It was nothing' _Silica thought as she curled up to other best friend, Pina.

*Tap*

'Ok, that may have been louder, maybe a tree fell!'

*Knock*

"Liz...Liz" The young girl tried to get her friends attention, but was met by silence.

*SLAM*

The whole house woke up with that one (atleast it woke the few who had managed to get sleep). Everyone rushed to the door, equipment on and weapons drawn. Kirito stepped up to the door, and slowly turned the doorknob. Once he opened it all the way, nothing was to be seen.

*Knock* Something hit the fully opened door, causing the party to look down to find a girl laying on the ground.

"Please...please let me in" the young girl asked in a frail voice. Asuna and Sinon rushed forward, picking up the girl and bringing her inside. No one argued. No one questioned it, they just each found something to help. The girl was placed on the guest bed Agil was sleeping on, since he couldn't fit on the couches. Kirito noticed scratches and bruises all on her. Not red digital ones that heal, real ones. They gave the small girl water. From what he could make out, Kirito saw she had brunet hair that went just below her shoulders, though right now the hair was very mangy and messed up. They all went to there respected rooms, and Agil offered to keep watch over night, considering he couldn't use his bed now.

'What just happened?' Suguha thought. It had all happened so fast. The day flew by them all, and now they all had a hard trip ahead of them. Suguha was concerned for the young girl, where had she come form? Was someone looking for her? 'Me staying up thinking won't help at all, I should sleep.' She thought.

As Agil sat in the rocking chair by the guest bed, he thought he heard the young girl whisper in her sleep.

"Em...Em...I know you'll..." Silence. The whole house. Silent. That night, everyone ended up sleeping somehow, everyone but Kirito. He stayed up all night, laying in bed holding his two favorite girls in his arms. He whispered out loud , "We'll be ok...all of us." He couldn't say if he was telling someone or himself.

[Morning]

3rd P.O.V~

Before anyone knew it, the sun had come out. They all woke up slowly, surprised when they came to the kitchen, to see a small girl bouncing around the kitchen making breakfast. She wore a violet tunic, lined with black edges and random lines embroidering the chest. Along with this, she had on black leather pants with black strapped on boots. The girl must have only been 5' 3" at most, was carrying on with making food, but stopped when she noticed 9 people staring at her. She quickly started blushing, grabbed at her shoulder length hair, and leaned her head slightly down, hiding her violet eyes.

"Is it that bad?" She asked in an innocent, gentle voice. No one replied to her question. This girl looked nearly dead last night, and now she thought they were worrying about her hair?

"I um...made breakfast. As a thank you for umm, well I'm not sure really." The young girl rambled on.

"You're not sure?" Asuna was the first to speak up.

"Well..." The young girl started, "I don't remember much of yesterday hehe. I know, it's kind of embarrassing. But I figured that if I ended up here, you must have helped me somehow right?"

"You don't remember coming here?" Silica peeped out

"The last thing I remember..." The girl out her fingered to her lips to think, "hmm I think I was with...oh right!" She snapped her finger and her faced perked up. "Where is he?"

"He?" Kirito spoke up, moving to the front of the small crowed. A disappointing look crossed the girls face.

"Yeah, the guy who was with me!" She replied.

"No one was with you. You were on our doorstep and looked like you had just been to hell." Asuna stated, concerned. "First of all, what's your name?" She asked the now pouting girl. The girl perked up at the question and pushed her chest out, pointing her thumb at herself. Smiling she replied,

"The one and only Kira at your service!" Everyone seemed to grow confused at the sudden change in mood. Asuna stepped forward.

"Nice to meet you Kira, I'm Asuna." She stuck her hand out to meet Kira's, but was surprised when she received a huge hug instead.

"My Master taught me that handshakes are for strangers, but anyone who brings someone hurt into there home can't be a stranger, right?"

"Master?" Klein, one of the up until now silent people, spoke up while scratching his head.

"Of course! Haven't any of you had a Master before?" The young girl seemed confused that she had to even explain this.

"No, why would we?" Liz stated.

"I mean, Jedi usually have someone teach them, like a Master." The room became silent. Kira pulled her hand close to her and slowly started shrinking.

'Did I say something wrong?'

"The hell is a Jedi?" Klein spoke, breaking the silence.

"You know, people that use lightsabers. The force." Kira used her hands to mimic her statements as she went on. "Wait..." She slowly clicked yesterdays events, "what..game...am I in?" She asked, puzzled.

"ALfheim Online!" Sugu yelled, as she was the farthest on back.

"Wait...I remember!" Kira pointed her finger to the sky and shouted. She turned from the group of people in front of her and mumbled to herself. The group of friends could only hear parts of it, "wait, I was running with...but then...blue light...attacked...found a house near by...now I'm here." The young girl, after being satisfied with understanding what had happened, turned to face the group again. She put her left hand to the back of her head, and grinning awkwardly said,

"Well, I'm not from this game, yesterday some weird floating guy, who looked like he had some fashion issues, said some blah about how he was our ruler now and I ended up here. Shortly after I was teleported to the forest nearby, some weird, group of people with orange icons attacked me. I couldn't find my weapon so I fought with my hands," -she crunched her knuckles to the statement-"but after only being able to beat half of them, 12 I think? Maybe. I hate counting!" She crossed her arms to the statement. "Anyways, after I beat a few, I had to run. I had started wearing out but they weren't. I ran until I ended up here, and the rest is pretty blank." As she finished, she noticed everyone seemed to be interested. 'And you say I'm not a good story teller', she thought of what to say when she saw her master next. Asuna broke the short silence, filling Kira in on yesterday events involving the monster known at Oberon. The group waited for Kira to freak out, but her reaction sent a chill to their spines. She grinned.

"So, it's still a death game huh? Well, he'll show up soon I know it." She calmly said.

"Wait, what do you mean 'still'? And who is this guy, or Master, or whoever you keep bringing up?" Kirito said, growing frustrated. Why was he so frustrated? He couldn't quite figure it out.

"I play an MMO back in the US on a small Japanese server. I think there are about 400 or so people on it" The brunet began explaining. "We were all trapped in it, and we were told the same basic rules as you were. But, we had no way of getting out. We were just...trapped. The people in this game have been trapped a long time..."

"How- how long?" Agil asked. Saddened look crossed the girl's innocent face, making her look aged beyond her years.

"4, give or take a few months." She quietly responded, cupping her hands.

4 years? How is that possible? Even if it was that small of a server, that still impossible to miss on the news. Unless, it never made it that far.

"It would've been unbearably, and the two I game factions would've killed each other of just for survival, but someone brought them together. A brilliant general, a jedi. My Master." She smiled and blushed slightly as she spoke. "He is the person who made everyone feel like we could survive, that we could win, that we could live. He found me about 3 years ago, living on the streets of some rundown futuristic city. He saved me, and he always will. I know he's here somewhere!" She stood up, hitting her fist into her hand.

"How can you have faith in that?" Sinon asked, confused. "How long will you wait for him to come?"

"Wait?" Kira seemed confused that some girl with cat ears was trying to bring logic into this. "What makes you think I'll be waiting. He'll be here soon, I'm sure!"

*Knock Knock* The room seemed to turn to the door. Asuna stood up and slowly walked to the door. When it opened, all that could be seen was the blinding sun, until a man stepped into the doorway.

"Sorry," -he put his hand to his head, pushing the light grey robe he wore to the side, revealing 2 weapon hilts on his right side, one about a footlong, the other a bit longer. He removed the hood he wore, revealing a man with a clean face (besides the scar across his right cheek) he sported dark brown hair, almost reaching his bright blue eyes.- " have you seen a short girl, about 16ish, kind of annoying. He grinned at his comment. That grin was immediately wiped when a pan hit his square in the face. The room looked toward Kira, who was stomping towards the man. She grabbed to longer silver hilt.

"Are you an idiot! Look how dirty this is." She held the hilt up the the 5' 10" man's face, looking extremely agitated.

"Nice to you too squirt" the man replied, rubbing his nose. "Your aim is getting better though."

The group on onlookers seemed to be extremely confused at this exchange. Asuna, who was still at the door, held her hand towards her home.

"Would you like to come in?"

"I would be grateful." The man replied, bowing before he entered. "So Kira, would you like to introduce me?"

"Yeah!" She turned, bouncing to do so. " This is Asuna, and they are people who I don't know. She pointed to who she was talking to, but looked more concerned with her weapon's dirtied condition.

Crap! We didn't introduce out selves! This was a thought shared by everyone. One by one the group stated their name and in-game specialty. The man seemed interested, never breaking away from the conversation. Once they had all introduced themselves, Yui said, calmly,

"What is your name?" Before he could answer, Kira yelled out,

"This is Jedi Master Emile Carrick! Isn't that right, old man?" She said as she nudged Emile with her elbow.

"That's right. But, what are you doing here exactly?" He asked the smiling girl. When she went to explain, Asuna took the conversation.

"Maybe I should explain, so I can fill you in on the whole story. Like where you are, what's going on-" she was interrupted.

"I'm aware of our location and the situation. I talked to some people outside on my walk here."

"Wait, did they have orange icons floating around here?" Kira asked, pointing to the space above her head.

"Hmm...maybe. They are probably still in the trees I left them in, we could go check."

"In the trees?" Klein asked, confused like most of this whole day.

"Yeah, they tried to jump me. Knocked the bread an old man had given me out of my hands. They didn't give up easy, I almost had to use my weapon on them."-he patted the hilt hanging of the right side of his brown leather belt.-

"You didn't use a weapon!? How did you beat them?" Liz asked, shocked.

"Hehe..." Emile chuckled, then he calmly raised his hand out. Moving his hand up, he made the pan...move? No, float? It floated from his feet to his hands without anything touching it! Everyone froze, shocked. What was the magic he just used? Is it something new to the game?

"Jedi's use what we call the Force," Kira explained, "it's something that is in all objects and living creatures. It binds us, connections one another. Jedi bend it to the will of the user, like such simple things at moving objects."-she waved her hand to the pan.- "It's fairly complicated, but first things first...can someone explain the game that we are in? The basics, rules, goal?" Sugu explained to them the game known as ALO.

"Hmm... I see." -The knight nodded in understanding in the remaining couch he and his student had sat down on.- "So, we need to conquer this land of a mad man?"

"Basically." Sugu replied, nervous at the thought of beating on MMO.

"Well, we need to start preparing first thing tomorrow." He stated, a cold tone in his voice.

"Tomorrow? Not now?" Asuna, the one renowned strategist asked.

"Well, he cannot fight with downed spirits. So for today, we should uncloud our minds, raise our moral, and prepare for the journey ahead of us." The knight raised his head and made his way to the kitchen. The breakfast from earlier was long cold, as the events of the day had taken well after lunch time and even towards dinner.

"First, dinner. Then, we raise our heads!" He said, his figure pointed to the sky. Something about how he talked, his calmness, his confidence, he cause the party of friends to smile, something they had yet to do after hearing those long forgotten bells.

The group of friends all stood up and tried to stay happy. They talked, they ate, they even drank. But after this carried on for awhile. They weren't trying to be happy, they WERE being happy. Maybe, maybe they could beat this game once more, before it beat them. They carried on laughing and being joyous throughout the night, until one by one they each passed out around the house.

Only 3 souls stayed up later then the rest.

[Sometime after midnight]

Kirito P.O.V.~

It was calm that night. I was sleeping peacefully in my room with Yui tightly snuggled between Asuna and I. I woke up to hearing noise outside, people talking to be exact. I carefully pulled myself out of bed and went to the front door of the house, careful not to wake up anyone sleeping around the house. Silently opening the front door, I slipped outside.

_'Why am I going outside?'_ I thought to myself. I walked towards the voices behind the house, but the voices had stopped. The only should I could make out was the crunching and cracking of leaves and branches under my feet. I finally found the source of the noises, 2 silhouettes by a small pond, bathed in the moonlight. The one on the left wore a full robe with hood while sitting down. The right, small figure was standing, holding her hands behind her back, head towards the moon in front of them. I was tempted to leave them alone, but a light voice began to speak, and my curiosity drew me into waiting a bit longer.

"What took you so long to find me?" She received no reply.

"It took a month AND coming to a new world, why so long?" Another space of silence.

"I'm sorry it took so long." The one sitting down finally replied. He spoke in a calm voice, yet sorrow filled his words. How could he show so much from saying so little?

"Where did you even go?" Kira again spoke, continuing to also remain calm while her voice slightly shook. "You told me you had somewhere to go, where I couldn't go." -her head looked down to the lake- "It hurt, it hurt to know there were places where I couldn't go with you." -she spoke quiet with those heavy words. I had started wondering if I should leave, but an urge, no, a need to stay forced me to keep at my spot- "But I'll follow you wherever you go, and I know you had a reason for leaving." -Kira's voice perked up, her head looking back at the moon- "I'm sorry for doubting you Master. I'll go where you say, but I'll follow you if you try to leave. Remember that." With that, she turned and bowed to Emile, who had remainder silent this while time, and with is head covered and facing forward his face was unseen. Before Kira could straighten her back from her pose, the silent man stood up, warping his arms around her. Her face showed that this wasn't something done often, as her eyes where wide facing Emile.

I understood my stay had extended too long, so I silently left the scene. I slipped inside the house, back into my bed with my loving family, wondering what had happened when I left a few minutes ago. After a while, I heard the door creak open, and a lone shadow crossed my vision as I looked behind me. After that, sleep took me away from the world.

[A few minutes earlier]

3rd P.O.V.~

The moon seemed to dance on the lake that the 2 Jedi stood together, one in the arms of the other. The brunette, who was shocked at her master's sudden choice of action, stood wide-eyed, head pushed slightly against his warm body, in the arms of Emile. Her master very rarely showed direct affection, even when it was just them. She hadn't felt like a little kid for a long time, but she was suddenly shifted through time and space to a time when she was unprotected, fragile, scared. Why did she have to feel like this right now, and for such a small action. Maybe because it wasn't a simple action. He never did this, no matter how much she could tell he wanted to.

The way he was taught to be a Jedi was the original style, no emotions to be shown, no personal links to cloud your feelings and judgment. Over his years, as she had learned from him and companions of his, he realized his emotions helped overpower his challenges. Along with this, he also learned how he felt some of his teachings were wrong, though he still believed in the Jedi ways over..the other sides method. When he found her in that alleyway 4 years ago, he saved her, took her under his wing. He taught her the ways of the Jedi in the way that he felt was the proper way, letting some emotions propel her, such as the need to protect, while releasing the ones that would hold her back, as hate and revenge do.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't strip some of his old habits completely, like showing not showing emotions. That's why this hug, in all of its forms, should have been wrong. But why was it so right in her heart? How long had they been standing like this? She realized it had been 2 full minutes. 2 long, warm, minutes. A deep, soft voice broke the silence that had held the conversation.

"I'm sorry..." -he held Kira tightly, keeping her close- "I'm sorry I left. I didn't want to leave you, and I'm sorry it took so long to find you. I'm sorry Kira." He stopped talking after that. Kira understood how much those words truly meant, no matter how short the words were. She wanted to stay like that longer, but knew how hard it was for him to do this. She started pulling away, but was met with a firm grip around her, embracing her. After another moment, he released his arms, letting them move to his Padawan's shoulders. They met eyes, and she saw the moon dace across his pupils like it did the lake. He spoke one more time.

"And there's no place I can go that you don't have the ability to follow." -a small slime crossed his face- "Go inside, I'll be out here meditating if anything is needed." He took a step back, and he and his student bowed to one another.

"Yes, Master." The young girl bounced away, letting a smile overtake her face. The only one at the lake now was Emile. He sat back down, closed his eyes, and thought. He thought until the sun came up, clearing his mind. He let his being relax, letting calmness overtake him. Now, there was a way to beat this game, to leave this trap. How long had he been like this? He had found his Padawan trapped 4 years ago, but when was he stuck? He knew, but the thought was pushed out.

'_Clear.'_ He thought as the moon began to lower_. 'I must be clear._' With a long breath, he didn't let another thought float into his mind until the yellow sun rose, covering his view with the light he always adored. He could hear voices slowly rise throughout the house behind him, and to that he rose. He turned front the peaceful lake, his hands held together behind him. As he walked towards the house, he breathed deeply.

'_They'll survive. If they have strong hearts, they'll survive.'_ This final thought passed his eased mind, and he entered the house.


	2. Chapter 2, Parts 1&2

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter is a little short, I had good plans for this but couldn't get them written how I wanted, but I still enjoy it and I hope you all do too. Review and tell me what you like, what I could do better, and any ideas you have. (Also, I do not have a schedule at the moment to put these out so I may be late with some but I might also do more then one some weeks.) Enjoy!**

* * *

Prolog:

[2 Months Later]

3rd P.O.V~

2 months had passed since the day that the death game revived itself. During that time, only 1,000 players had died, and 19 floors had been cleared. The players of ALO also found out how "Oberon" had somehow hacked into the network in charge of running the ALO servers, and used and I.D he ranked above Heathclift's. He had a small group inside the company help make and produce the AmuSphere Version 3, and made ALO require it to play. With everything going smooth, our story's protagonist find themselves back on the 22nd floor of New Aincrad, devising a plan to take on the boss of the 50th floor. A small elite team of 40 was formed with a mix of the 9 races, at the request of Jedi Master Emile, who had managed to bring together the races of the Sylphs, Cait Sith, Leprechauns, Undine, the Salamanders, and even the Spriggans. A meeting at a forest a few miles from Kirito and Asuna's home, which had become a sort of H.Q to the group of, now 11, and no large guilds had been made yet that were strong enough for this task. Our story starts at the meeting taking place in a clearing in the middling of a forest.

* * *

Chapter 2, Part 1: Boss Fight

[Mid-Day]

Kirito P.O.V~

With the meeting beginning, Asuna and I took onto the makeshift stage on front of our forces. Us and Emile were to be in charge of this boss fight, as in SAO every 25th fight was much harder then others, and Asuna and I were some of the only true frontline members from the SAO days that took a leadership role. Personally, being a leader wasn't something I hoped for, but at this point I couldn't continue being solo. Not with the people I had to stay with. I continued to try to think, but realized that the chatter that was once running around the large group in front of us began to grow silent. Asuna looked at me, sharing her thoughts through those blue, water-like eyes.

'_He's not coming.'_

_'He'll show up, calm down.'_

'_I'm starting this meeting, if he shows up later then he shows up._' I nodded my head in response. With that, Asuna faced the crowed of people, and began talking.

"Last time when we made it to the 50th floor, we scouted the floor boss and figured out how we should proceed before we went in. However,"-she parted her legs shoulder width and held her hands behind her back. Slowly, she began pacing the stage- "However we are not able to scout now. As many of you know, the doors now close when you enter a boss fight room. We may still use crystals, so everyone is recommended to bring a teleporting and healing crystal laptop the minimum. We will to into the boss room, and go in with the set-up of..." After that, Asuna explained the plan to the group. "And Kira, since your Master hasn't shown up, you will be leading the bosses entourage forces. Understood?" Kira, as everyone had come to know her, was an extremely happy, upbeat girl. She took laugh with a smile and a laugh, but when she was prepared for a fight, that smile was replaced by a firm leg-together stance. Her eyes facing the leading general, and following all orders. It was strange seeing her change into something so serious so quickly.

_'Who do I know that does that?'_

"Understood." The young girl said in a firm, yet soft voice.

"Is everyone clear on our plan, and your own duties?" No one spoke up to question what was going on, so it was shown that everything was understood. With that, the time to meet was set and we all dispersed from the meeting. Since it was mid-day, Asuna, Kira, Klein, Sinon, Sugu, and I, who were all fought on the frontline, went to meet with the others back at our new group's H.Q., Asuna and I's home. Well not exactly our house, but a base that we had made close by on the same floor.

Little conversation was made between us the first while one our way to the base, so I broke the tense silence after a while asking Kira,

"Hey, where was Emile today anyways? He was suppose to be there." I noticed an annoyed look had returned to Asuna's face.

"Hmm, good question." Kira replied in her normal carefree tone. Her arms were up, pressed to the back of her head as she looked up at the trees we passed. "He said something about scouting, but I didn't think much of it."

"He missed the meeting for scouting?" Asuna asked in a tone that matched her voice. "What could he be scouting that's more important then this boss fight?"

"I think he said something about the 50th floor." Kira replied, continuing to stare into nothingness upward.

"50th floor?" Agil, who had been chatting with Klein had piped in. "But, isn't the only thing on the 50th floor to scout the-"

"No, we can't scout the boss room. There's nothing to scout up there." Klein replied while chewing a long piece of wheat he kept on him.

"Maybe he went to fight!" Kira yelled, smashing her hand into her fist. "He like training with only things that he think can beat him." She kept going on.

"No, he wouldn't go take on a boss alone, no one is-" Asuna went wide-eyed, which cut off my speaking. "At least, not intentionally." I said quickly, shaking my hands up and down in defense. I realized that she wasn't aiming that look at me. She cocked her head sideways toward Kira behind us, who had been standing next to the archer Sinon and the swordswomen Sugu.

"He wouldn't." Asuna said, almost in an asking tone. As the house came into sight, Kira picked up her pace, ending up infront of the group.

"Hm, I can't say he would." She said in the same tone she had been using, not worrying much about the conversation at hand. "But then again, I can't say he wouldn't. How strong are the bosses here, I haven't had a chance to be apart of the main boss fights yet, just in charge of fighting extra mobs and what-not." She asked, curiously.

"It usually takes a full raid of 49 to fight them." I stated.

"Hehe." Kira giggled in a low tone. He voice lost it's carefreeness, and became serious. "I've heard stories from players that my Master is stronger then 10 armies. I bet he'd still be trying to see if he can hold the title." Her arms had fallen to her side, and everyone had been caught by the statement. Sure, Emile had proven to be a good fighter, and an equally good leader, but nothing out of the ordinary.

'Surely he wouldn't.' I thought, but I was quickly interrupted by the quick and light footsteps of my girlfriend, who had started running in the direction of the Warp-gate.

"Crap!" I said, flying after the now in-air Undine. The rest of the group seemed to understand, and started towards the plaza which held the teleporter. I looked behind me to see the house, and Kira casually walking inside of it.

"Tell me what happens, I'll be with the others." She waved at us, but was quickly turned to a blur as we all sped off towards the 50th floor boss room.

* * *

[Outside the 50th floor boss room]

Asuna P.O.V.~

'_Baka! Who the hell runs off to fight a boss for training!'_ I yelled inside of my mind and the group of 5 and I ran down the hallway containing the boss room. It hadn't been long since we'd arrived inside of the dungeon, but it doesn't take long for someone to die in this game. After a short while and killing off the mobs we found, our group had made its way to the boss room door. Unfortunately, since Kira and Emile had their main game aspects from a different game, as their player I.D's were as well, we couldn't put them on our friends list, causing us to not be able to see where they were like we normally could. As we ran up to the door, I yelled at the others.

"We are going to open the doors, look inside, and leave right away. Understood!" Everyone nodded to my command, and I pressed my hand to the door. I saw a black glove move to the other door next to my hand.

"If we are going into a boss room, I'm staying right with you." The stern voice came from my boyfriend and in-game husband, Kirito. I nodded my head in understanding, and with that we pressed our hands on the door. We pressed hard. We kept pressing, waiting for the door to move. But it stood still. The Door wouldn't budge, no matter how hard we pushed. Even Agil and Klein couldn't get the door to move when they joined us. A horror filled my mind after a minute of this.

"Boss doors only stay shut...if someone is fighting the boss..." Kirito cut into my thoughts with his words. We all watched he door, expecting it to open. But it didn't. We waited 5 more minutes for it to open. But it didn't. We kept our eyes on the monster-carved door, just waiting for it to open. We didn't want to believe that someone had voluntarily fought a boss, alone. We sat waiting for what had to be 30 minutes before someone spoke.

"The door not opening is still somewhat good, right." A nervous Leafa said, as she sat on a nearby rock in the forest like room.

"What do you mean? It means there's a boss fight happening right now and we can't help it!" I said to her, raising my voice. I felt bad for doing it soon after, but at the moment I was only seeing red in my eyes.

"She does have a point." Sinon spoke up. "If the doors won't open, whoever is in there is still alive for the moment."

"Still, that's not extremely good that some idiot would charge in to something like this." I said, my words starting to become one big loop. Silence fell again, for another half-hour. In that time, I thought of our 2 new allies, mainly the one who was possibly in this locked room that stood infront of us. This man known as Emile, or Jedi Master Emile officially when introduced to leaders and high ranking officers for clans, was one of 413 players from some game that no one had bothered caring to remember (How could you not remember a game you had been trapped in for 4 years, and played normally even longer!) that had been transferred to the ALO servers when we were all trapped here 2 months ago. Over that time, this 20 or so year-old man had shown that he was extremely wise and rivaled me as a battle general. His skilled with his weapon know as a 'Lightsaber', which was similar to what Kirito had used in his time during GGO, was fairly talented. Kira had told us many stories of him defeating armies and rulers as easily as anyone could take down a lone mob, but it was hard to believe considering we hadn't seen him fight often.

The only real fighting we saw of his was whenever he took part in a boss fight, but most of the time he took the defensive leader role while Kirito and I lead our offensive. A reason that I only ever saw him fight in boss fights was his personality. He was a passive person, trying to be as peaceful as possible. His beliefs in peace helped bring many of the fairy races come together, to fight as one. Kira and I talked often about this way of living they had taken up, the so-called Jedi way. It was an interesting belief that they shared, but I still knew little about it. I had grown to be curios about Emile, as not even Kira knew incredibly much about him before the 4 years they had been together as Master and Padawan, which I learned is a student that a Jedi Master takes up as their own.

I was doubtful that Emile would come out of this room, really I was just hoping it was a separate clearing group fighting the boss. But with it having been over an hour already, my hope was fading fast. As I thought in the room while sitting next to Kirito, hands interlocked, a screeching cut the air. It was not from a monster, but from the floor as the boss room door slid along it. Everyone put their hands on their weapons, and jumped to the door. As Kirito prepared to cast night-vision (as boss rooms usually started out dark) we were instead met with orange flames decorating the small room. When we stepped into the room, blue polygons of light danced through the air, steadily falling. The sight was breathtaking, but I didn't notice it much. What I DID notice was the light-grey cloaked figure sitting in the middle of the square, boxed room. The room, which was held my pillars evenly spewed acrossed the room, had gold dragon decorating the walls, like a story had been painted in. It was similar to what we had seen of the 25th floor, so I made a mental note to check the walls later. But at the moment, I stomped to the man who had his backed turned to us.

"What the hell is your problem! You came up here, and thought you could fight a boss alone! Are you insane!?"

"Uh, Asuna." Kirito's words directed me towards him.

"What!?" I yelled at him as he put his hand on my shoulder. I saw his figure point to the polygons that had almost disappeared from the air.

"Have you noticed something?"

The thought had just hit me. There was no boss. Only Emile had sat in the room when we came in, and the boss was already...dead? No there's no way, he couldn't have... I turned my attention to Emile, who had stood up and faced us all. He rested his hands on the back of his head, reminding me of Kira when she was feeling carefree.

"I think I'm going to head back to the house, sorry for the trouble I'm sure you took to get up here." He said, his hands dropping to his side as he bowed to us. He did this a lot whenever he felt sorry for doing something, I felt it was a bit much but it was his way of showing respect I guessed. You can open up the teleporter to the next floor if you would like, I'll meet you all downstairs." And with that, he calmly strolled out of the room, his hands held softly behind his back. Everyone in the group, besides me who was wondering, was struck by amazement. We all had to have been sharing the same thoughts.

_'How could he have done that?'_ But as me and Kirito locked eyes, we shared a thought separate from the rest.

'_Who is that guy?'_

* * *

Chapter 2, Part 2: Training in the Moon Light

[After Dark]

Kirito P.O.V.~

Later on in the day, everyone had ended up back at our base, or H.Q., which was a large building similar to that of a farm house, but made more militaristic. It was a large, white building that housed multiple training areas, meeting rooms, storage rooms, sleeping areas, and a large blacksmithing room in the basement (Liz wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I didn't make sure we had put one in, as Asuna had put me in charge of planning the base). We all spent a lot of our time here, as a lot of our group didn't have homes in New Aincrad since we had lived in Yggdrasil for the most part before we had committed to clearing this death game. Most of us were apart of the clearing group except for Liz, who was our official blacksmith, and Silica, who didn't feel she was able to fight on the frontlines.

It was after dark when Emile finally arrived at the base, and everyone but Kira and Asuna immediately ran up to him. All at once, we asked the same question,

"What the hell happened!?"

Asuna seemed fairly still mad about him going to do something that she thought was extremely stupid, and Kira just sat at a table with her feet up. The room we had all gathered in was the bases main hall, and it was our main meeting space. It was a large white and black room with a long table in the middle surrounded by chairs. The room had a stairway in the back that lead to the 2nd floor of the base, and also the balcony that surrounded the 1st floor.

Emile had stayed silent for the most part while everyone shouted random questions at him, but eventually he spoke.

"Kirito."

"Hm?" I replied, confused.

"Can you meet me outside?"

"Umm, yeah." I replied, still confused at the request. Though he seemed to enjoy us all, Emile didn't hang out with us individually much. After that, he stepped outside of the base, and I followed close behind. We kept walking for a few minutes, until we ended up at a clearing by the base.

"Why did we come out here?" I asked him, arms crossed.

"I want to help you train." He stated, turning to me.

"Train? I'm not sure I follow."

"You fight well with your dual-blades, but I wish to help you fight better."

This was a bit weird for me. As I was the only dual-blade user that most people, including myself, had met, I was curious on why he thought my skills weren't good enough. I mean, I did beat the 74th floor boss alone back in SAO, and I'd become increasingly better, so why was he wanting to do this?

"I mean, how do you think you can help make me better?" I was pulled into the conversation a bit. "There isn't much I can do for now but improve my skill ratings."

"I want you to learn the way I learned to fight, outside of the system."

'_Outside of the system?'_ I was confused.

"What do you mean 'Outside of the system?"

"I mean in a way that your skill points do not matter, past the limit of a normal player." He replied, hands sitting behind his back. "You told me once how the man named Oberon had been beaten by you before, but he doesn't seem to care much for rules or fairness by the story you told me."

It was true, Kira and Emile were curious on how we know who Sugou, so I had told them the story of me coming to the original ALO and defeating him. It was also true that when I fought Sugou that he tried to used unfair advantages and broke the rules when we fought, but I HAD beaten him. I found it strange that this had come up and the conversation between the Jedi infront of me and I.

"I wish to start preparing for anything else he could plan down the path for us, and I'd like to start with you." Emile continued to speak. I put in my words quickly so that we could head back to base soon for dinner.

"Ok fine, what would you like me to do?" I asked, wanting to hurry this up. With that statement, Emile pulled out his weapon of choice, his lightsaber. It reminded me of what I wielded in GGO, but it was a bit different. The hilt he held was about the size of an average forearm, and was a cylinder-like metal object that was silver with gold rings every few inches. When he ignited his weapon, the lightsaber shot out a bright yellow light, which had to be 3 feet long in itself. The yellow blade seemed to light up the world around him, and Emile seemed like he knew how to truly wield this weapon. He held it steadily away and to the left of his body, slanting it upwards to his right side, covering his body. He had called this fighting form of his 'Ataru', which was suppose to be an agility style fighting technique. After setting his form like this, I finally realized he had started speaking.

"I wish for you to disarm me." When he said this, I nodded and pulled out my black, broad longsword and got into an attacking stance, holding my weapon towards the back of me.

"Use both of your weapons." His words surprised me. I only normally used my dual-blades when I was in a serious fight, and I had never seen this guy do anything extraordinary to be impressed with. Reluctantly, I pulled out my second sword, the golden Excalibur. I held both of my weapons in hand, and prepared to move in to strike his weapon. Quickly, I shot off my feet, hoping to end this stupid training quick. I was prepared to aim for the hilt of his lightsaber, and knock it out of his hands. I sped across the clearing faster then the game could keep up with, and ended up behind Emile. He was still facing forward, and I struck downwards towards his weapon.

_'Too slow.' _I thought to myself, but as my weapon pressed to the Jedi's, it quickly vanished from my view. Horror came across me, as I realized Emile was behind me, weapon in hand.

'_How the-'_ my thoughts were cut off and I flew to the ground infront of me, unaware of what had just happened.

'_When did he get behind me?'_ I thought to myself, but the man who stood infront of me when I jumped off the ground had maintained his starting stance, but was clearly farther back then when he had started. I slowly understood that this wasn't going to be the fight I had thought before hand. I was going to have to try a bit harder, and so I did. I leaped off the ground, and ended up infront of Emile. I sliced my swords towards each other, lightsaber in the middle of them. As my blades one again made slight contact with the silver hilt before me, I suddenly saw a palm go towards my face. As the hand made contact with me, I had to think of what just happened. After I landed on the ground below, I rolled off my back and onto my feet, leaping back to gain some space. The man infront of me had his lightsaber in his left hand, right hand forward where my face had been a few moments ago, his feet still shoulder width. As I brought my swords up, I prepared for the next while that we would be at this. I breathed in the night air, and spaced out my feet to match my swords. Before I shot forward, I realized something. The bright blue eyes of the Jedi that normally stood on his face weren't there. Instead, his eyelids covered them. I had realized what was going on. Emile had kept his eyes shut, following me with ears and not eyes. After I understood this, I took flight with my grey wings, and went above him.

I sped down the air, towards my opponent. He had taken up his original stance, and wasn't in the position to take an aerial attack, so I took up the opportunity to go towards him with my blades in hands. As I had become an inch from him, time slowed down. It wasn't like the system-assist the Heathcliff, but it was almost identical. When I had to the hilt of his weapon, I was the eyes of the Jedi infront of me open, and look at me. My face tensed up as the eyes infront of me vanished. I quickly turned around to catch a foot above me, and saw Emile in the air above me. With a grin, he landed in me, foot still in my hand. I expected to land hard on the ground, but the impact was like a normal fall, like no extra force had been added. I didn't understand why he didn't put pressure on his foot to send me flying, but only went softly down to the ground. With the grin still on his face, Emile removed his foot from me, and held out his right hand to me. Noticing his lightsaber was put away, I reached for the hand and was brought up.

"Do you understand?" He asked. I nodded, as I knew what he meant. Did I understand what he meant by fighting outside of the system, where skills didn't matter.

"Are you willing to let me help you?" He continued. I stopped to think. Looking up towards the moon, I thought not of my answer, but of the day. This guy was unbelievably fast, and had beaten a boss alone. I wanted to know who he was, but I more wanted to know how to get to his level of fighting.

"Yeah, I'll go along with it." I replied, sheathing my weapons.

"Ok." That was it? Wasn't much of a response for trying so hard to get me to train with me. With that statement, we started walking toward the base next to each other.

After awhile, the house came into view, and I asked him a question.

"Did you really beat that boss by yourself?" He shook his head. I was confused, no one had been in the room, so did someone...

"Something I've learned over the years of fighting," Emile's voice cut my thoughts. "You're never truly alone, even if no one is standing next to you."

As we entered the house, I thought about what he had said. I understood what he meant kinda. How we didn't ever fight alone, but one question remained in my head.

'_Who are you?'_

When the brightness of the base hit my eyes, and blue hair figure appeared infront of me.

"Where did you go? Do you know how late it is?"

When my in-game wife asked me this in a curious voice, I quickly realized how late it was. After realizing this, I saw a horror that I had nightmares of become true. The food that had been made for dinner, quickly become blue polygons, disappearing from my sight. That night, my thoughts were stuck on the food that I would never get to eat. I was truly defeated.


	3. Chapter 3, Parts 1&2

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry that I'm late on an update but my FF account is messing up and this was the first time I could log in. Also, I know that this is a short update but the next one will be much longer and much much better. P.S. I'll also be trying to update a chapter early to make up for the late update. Rate, Review, Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 3, Part 1: Small Talk

[35th Floor of New Aincrad-Forest of Wandering; Mid-Day]

Kirito P.O.V.~

As I sat in the shaded forest, wiping the sweat coming off of my hair, I talked with the man who had been my training partner for the past couple weeks. Well, talking is a bit of a stretch, more like silently leaning on the same tree as each other.

The man next to me and I had been training together for a short while on the 22nd floor on something he called "Self-Skill", training yourself to fight as if no system controlled your actions, fighting outside of the system. Though I had done that a few times, I couldn't do it at my on will, I'm not completely sure how I did it the other times I did, fighting Heathcliff or ignoring Sugou's gravity spell during our fight over a year ago. Whenever I trained, I tried to activate whatever I did then, but so far I only could only just with this demon of a person.

As I sat thinking, I tilted my head slightly to look at the hooded man next to me. This quiet time was nice, but I decided to take advantage of the first break I had had since about 6 in the morning, and I tried getting to know this stranger.

"Hey, Emile. I'm interested in knowing why we always train in forest areas." I spoke to the Jedi next to me. He lifted his head up and caught a falling leaf in his right palm.

"I haven't seen true forest in 3 years." He replied, moving the leaf through his fingers.

"3 years? Didn't they have them in your last world?" I asked. With a shake of the head, Emile continued to add on to his words. My question was met with a slow shake of the head.

"No, in my last prison no code protected our lands. The wooded worlds were quickly destroyed into wastelands by people needed resources. It took much less then a year." The words hit me hard, as the woods were where Asuna and I haves lived as a family, a place away from war. If that was gone, this game would be much more torturous. As I thought about this, a question popped into my head.

"Why is it that you and Kira don't remember what game you came from?" It was true, as far as we knew Kira and Emile had no recollection of small details about what game they came from.

"I'm not entirely sure." A reply came to my question quickly. "When I was transferred to this game, I remembered my time in my last world, but not what it was exactly. I have a short memory gap in my time between transferring to this game, and ending up at the 22nd floor."

"Hmm, do you mind me asking more?" Curiosity filled my brain. As our group had grown to be quite close with Kira and had gotten to know her, the older of the two was still a large mystery.

"Not at all." Replied the Jedi, still messing with the leaf in his figures. Though I don't think he wanted to admit it, I thought he enjoyed taking a break from training sometimes too. Maybe he was a bit human instead of full-monster.

"How did you and Kira meet?" The question rolled off my tongue as I put a long piece of wheat from my inventory in my mouth.

"I still remember that moment perfectly, back on the once prosperous world turned ruins of Coruscant.

* * *

[Entrance to a Metal, Rundown building; Nighttime]

Emile P.O.V~

I picked myself off of the ground I had just been thrown onto, wiping my knees and looking back and the bar I came from. The deep and annoyed voice of the bartender reached my ears clearly, and so did the scent of the alcohol from the building.

"And tell your kind to stay out. Come around here again and it's a blather to the brain, understand you brat?" The old fat bartender talking to me wore a simple white apron over his green clothing.

With a sigh, I waved my hand and walked away, giving the reluctant reply of "Alright, sorry to bother you." I had gone to that rundown building to ask information of a Sith trying to cause some major trouble, but had been met with a hard boot to the face and, with my better judgment, I managed to calmly leave instead of destroying that pile of metal. I had been wiping some more small rocks that stuck to my bright white robes, when I heard some noise coming from an alleyway I was passing up.

A voice I couldn't quite put a description on spoke a distance always from me, "Come on, you have to have something on you." A short silence followed after, and I tried to listen some more. "Kid come on, money, food, anything will get you by his taxes."

Another voice, a younger sounding one spoke up, "Boss come on, she's a kid. Besides, just look at her! She doesn't have shit."

I took a step into the alleyway and didn't see anyone, until I realized the alley made a sharp right a few meters down. I continued walking and listening to some talking, or arguing I couldn't tell much from that far away, from the two voices. Once I reached the turn, I poked my head out and saw three figures, two close to each other arguing, and the third one, much more towering them the rest, standing a foot or two back.

The first voice continued to speak. "Come one Tatsu, do you really think she can't have anything, even that junkie alien we found had enough to almost pass." I matched the voice with the man farthest from me, some some wide and about my height. All three men wore the same black cloaks, and there faces were covered by shadows. The person, who I guessed to be the younger of the two argued back.

"Yeah, and you still killed him! Let's just go, right boss?" He turned behind him and looked to the larger man. He received no response except a quick shake of the head.

The voice that followed sounded digitized, electronic almost. Making out the face a little more as he spoke, I noticed the large man had a shiny lower face cover, but the features were still too far to make out. "Who pays taxes?"

The one known as Tatsu answered quietly, "Everyone, boss. Sorry kid, you gotta follow bosses rules." He seemed to switch to talking to a trashcan in front of him. For the first time, I noticed feet coming out from beside the trashcan, and I quickly became annoyed by these people, though using that word was a bit generous.

"I d-don't have anything. If you w-wanna kill me...JUST DO IT." The reply the made all three men look came from a small timid voice. It sounded like a young girl, scared. Nervous. Before I could come out of my place of watching, a crimson light emerged from the older of the two subordinate's cloak, and my attention was about as caught as it could be.

"See this kid, you picked a fight with Sith Lords, you should've listened." As he lifted his hand high, I dashed from the shadows. The blood-red blade flew downward, but was met but my yellow light.

"And Who the Hell are YOU!" The older one said to me, the man standing infront the the small child.

With a flick if my wrist, I forced his lightsaber to go to the concrete floor beneath us. "Leave. Now." I spoke quickly and firmly, though I was nervous. At the age of 17, I could tell clearly that these men were well older then me, even the one who had the young voice looked to be in his 20's.

"Shit boss, that lightsaber, you don't think-" Tatsu was cut off my the electronic man.

"No, I don't think. No Jedi would stop to protect a kid. His a phony with a lightsaber, that's all.

The older man spoke, his brown eyes growing wide. "Boss, I think this kid ain't worth it."

"You're both useless." After his statement, the boss stepped in between the men, grabbed their heads, and shoved them to the side. Once he did this, I couldn't tell he was monstrous compared to me. Thoug ph his face was covered by a bulky silver mask, and his body was cloaked fully, I could clearly see that he had to almost be 7 feet tall. "I'll kill you myself."

"Are you really?"

"OF COURSE I REALLY WILL." His voice boomed as a red saber was brought down on me. I swiped my right hand, and stopped his saber with my own.

"No, are you really Sith?" I asked my question again, quietly. I could hear chocked whimper behind me.

"These two weaklings, no, but I on the other hand."

"What is your name." I didn't asked, I almost demanded an answer.

"Sith Lord Trikor, given by the fact it only takes three strikes for me to kill. He yelled, completely destroying the calm and secretive manor he had beforehand. The name struck me as the Sith I had been looking for, but this man couldn't be him. Though he looked like a monster of a man, he didn't fit the description of the Sith I searched for. Though that didn't mean I shouldn't worry.

Pushed his blade off of mine and stepping from the wall with the child towards my enemy, I gave a simple command. "Leave now, or face the judgment of the Jedi Order."

"Ha, let's see if your really who you saw you are. Tatsu, Jidos, kill him."

I noticed now that the two other assailants were to my sides, matching sabers in hands."

_'Shit, I let my guard down.' _I was growing more nervous my the second. I could take down a Sith easy, even two, but three fakes was still a challenge for a learner like me. I stood my ground, and tried to control the fear I felt. Dying in some back-wash alley wasn't how I planned to let things happen.

"Got it." The older said on my right.

"Yes, Sir." The younger to my left.

All three simultaneously swung, the two to my side across my body, and the boss downwards. I managed to block the two on my sides since both blades had come to my front, but my top was wide open. I pushed the blades off on mine, and swept my blade to meet the one above me, but the blade fell before it his met mine. In the moment this happened, a blaster shot reached my ears. I didn't have time to react to this, as I quickly slashed the hands of the two men beside me. I heard shout of things like, "Shit!", or, "Boss is down!" The two men ran off, leaving their boss who had fallen on the ground. I turned slowly, lightsaber on but hanging to my side, to see hands curled up around the hand of a gun. I flipped the large man over, but I could see easily that his HP had hit zero, and the blaster had shot an energy shot into his forehead, killing him.

Kneeling next to the man, I looked back at the child. I noticed the gun was now facing me, but I also noticed the child for the first time. Well, really caught a look at her. The kid was a short, ragged girl, sporting a torn brown tunic and matching pants. Her face was dirty, but she had violet eyes that were as red as the the sabers that I had just crossed. Her long brown hair looked like it hadn't been taken care of for some time.

"Their right." Her firm but scared voice met my ears. I turned off my weapon ad I listened. "No Jedi would come out here to spot some guys picking on a kid. "

Standing up, I walked to the child, and reached my head down to the sitting child. She pointed the blaster up to my, facing it to my chest.

"How do I know you're not some bandit too?"

"You don't." I replied. " I couldn't be the greatest criminal I'm the galaxy, cool name and all. She let out a small smile to my sarcastic reply, but quickly put a hard look back on. With a sigh, I flicked my wrist, and the gun flew up to my hands.

Once the girl realized this, she jumped up to grabbed the gun, but fell back to the ground. I had finally realized why she had been here and hadn't ran off while I had been fighting. She was out of energy, as if you didn't eat here you grew sick and weak. I pulled up my inventory screen, and brought out a sandwich I had in my dinner. I handed it to the girl.

Without checking for poison or other hazards, she quickly bit into the sandwich, and let out not a noise while she devoured it. After she finished, I tried talking some more.

"Come on kid, you need to be taken anywhere?" I asked, hands balled and going into my hips.

She shook her head, sandwich still filling her cheeks. With a swallow, she replied quickly, "No."

"Come on, some one is probably worried sick looking for you. You have to have family here." The shaking of her head, which was now facing down, made me worry. "You're too young to have started this game alone, who are you with. Your mom, dad, sibling, a friend?"

"I joined with my dad...but I'm alone now." She curled up her left legs and put her head to it's knee, leaving her right leg on the ground. "I broke it a few weeks ago, and he left me on this planet." Her words stabbed my heart. A father couldn't just have left his child.

"Please...just leave. Thank you for the help but...I want to just be left alone until I die." She spoke quietly, her voice one of someone who had given up.

* * *

[Present Day]

3rd P.O.V~

"Wait wait wait." Kirito spat out during the story. "How could her leg have been broken that long, shouldn't it have healed by then.

"I'm our last world, wounds didn't just heal. All scars, broken bones, even cut of limbs stayed. You had to heal or treat them yourself or by getting a player's help." Emile replied, words rolling off of his tongue.

"Oh...I see...so is that why your cheek is like that?" The Spriggan's left hand rose to point at the scar across the Jedi's face. A nod answered his question.

"Sorry, carry on with the story." The Black Swordsman gestured Emile.

"Very well. Like I said before, I tried to help her and I was met with-"

* * *

[3 Years Prior; Alleyway; After Dark]

Emile P.O.V~

"Please...just leave. Thank you for the help but...I want to just be left alone until I die." She spoke quietly, her voice one of someone who had given up.

"..." We sat quiet for a while.

My hand that had been out until now retracted slowly. "I see." I kneeled down next to her, separated her back from the wall she leaned on before, and lifted her on my left shoulder.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" I could feel her hands hitting my back, not slowing down as I walked out of the alley. "I JUST WANT TO DIE, LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"I don't give a shit." I stopped just before turning the corner to leave the back area. The fist hitting me slowed down. After that I felt my shoulder blade become damp, from what I could only guess. I walked out of the alley with my eventual student.

* * *

[Present Day]

Kirito P.O.V~

"And that's how we met."

I waited a few seconds for the rest of the story, but no sound came from Emile.

"Is-Is that it?" I asked, confused.

"You wanted to know how we met, there it is." I was told matter-of-factly.

"Wait, but what happened to-" I was cut off.

"Come on, we trained for awhile today, let's head back." When he turned his back and started walking away, I stood up and followed behind him with my head down to the ground. After a couple hours, we had made it back to the 22nd floor.

* * *

Chapter 1, Part 2: Midnight Monsters

[?]

Kira P.O.V~

Running. I was running. As fast as I could away...away from what? All I can only see black, I'm not even sure if I'm moving. Why is it that I always see it when I sleep, me running as much as I can, but nothing happening. I slipped like always, and fell. I waited for the ground, but it never embraced me. I kept falling, and when I yelled for help nothing ever came out. I knew it wouldn't help, but is still hoped. I closed my eyes, and reached out my hand, waiting to be caught. As expected, I grabbed onto the air next to me, and fell a few inches to where my feet hit the ground.

I turned around, and waited for when the red lightsaber would come crashing down on me. I waited. I waited.

'_Whats going on? It's always-' _my thoughts ended abruptly when a light came towards me. It was blood-red, as always, and I prepared my saber inhand, once I ignited my purple blade, I met the light with my saber. All I had to do was push it back and the dream would end. I shoved with all my might, but what happened wasn't what normally happened. The light changed, and turned into a golden yellow. The saber came to my neck, and my thoughts shifted too long.

'_But, the only one who has a yellow saber is-_' the saber made contact.

* * *

[Kirito and Asuna's living room; Midnight]

Kira P.O.V~

I lifted from the couch I was on, trying to wipe the sweat I was drenched in away, but I couldn't accomplish my goal. I decided to get water from the sink in the kitchen, and quietly lifted off of my sleeping arrangement and tip-toed to the faucet in the kitchen. As silent as I could, I turned on the water and doused my face in water, relaxing my nerves some. I noticed someone missing from the room, and walked to the front door. Before I could leave, a small voice hit my ears.

"Where are you going Kira-San?"

"What are you doing up? And I told you to just call me Kira, Yui." I noticed the petite girl standing a few feet away from me, a curios look on her face.

"I heard the water running to I wanted to see if you were up." Yui replied in a small voice.

"I'm sorry Yui, I'll try to stay more quiet next time." When I tried to walk by her, a small hand tugged on the back of my shirt.

"You're scared."

"Yui, how-"

"I was a mental health program originally. Though to don't have my old privileges, I can still tell most obvious emotions." I sometimes forgot this wasn't a little girl, but an externally smart A.I. Looks deceive quite a lot sometimes. "What's wrong." And now a little girl was trying to give me consoling.

Taking a seat on my 'bed' I told Yui with a smile"It's nothing Yui, why don't you go back to bed."

The small girl reluctantly started walking off. "O-ok, if you're sure." Shortly after I was once again alone. I laid my body flat, and rubbed my eyes with my hands.

I faced the door and put my hands to my side.

"Master...why did it change this time..." My dream was always the same, but this was the only one that the small difference meant so much to me. Only one person I knew wielded a yellow lightsaber, and my guess was that my dreams would only become more unsettling. Before I could think any longer, my heavy eyelids forced down, and sleep overtook me.


	4. Chapter 4, Parts 1, 2, & 3

**A/N: Hey guys! this one is a bit longer, so I hope that it makes up for the missing of a story. This is a bit of a side story, but I enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoy reading it. Read, Review, Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 4, Part 1: What's On Today's Agenda?

[22nd Floor Base; Morning]

3rd P.O.V~

"Hey, Silica."

"Huh?" The voice that caught the young dragon-tamer's attention belonged to the only girl that hung out nearby, Kira. The girl, who was only about a year older, was still in her dark purple pajamas she always slept in. Silica, who had been lying on a table in her group of friend's 'base' with her best friend Pina, he been called out by the young Jedi who was sitting nearby.

Sitting up tall, Kira looked around while asking Silica, "Where is everyone?" It was true, only the two girls where in the large base today, an uncommon thing considering not everyone was usually busy. But on today, it was no surprise. After 3 months of being trapped, the 53rd floor boss was about to be taken on, and everyone who wasn't here (excluding Liz, who was usually in her blacksmith store in Yggdrasil City or getting materials to make the best weapons she could.) was at the boss fight by now. Only Silica and Kira had sat out, as both had overslept to leave with the others.

Finally answering her friend's question, Silica stated lazily "Boss fight."

"..." Kira faced her head down, her body beginning to shake. With a jump and fist to the air, a yell roared from the young Jedi, "WHAT!? OH when they get back... Wait...I have a better idea." Rubbing her hands together, a mischievous glint appeared in Kira's violet eyes. Those same eyes slowly turned to Silica.

"Hey...Silica."

"Huh?" The Cait Sith poked her head up, a worried expression filling her face.

"Let's..." A pause held for a moment... "GO ON AN ADVENTURE!" The Jedi once again struck a pose, fist in the air and eyes starting at the young girl across from her.

Silica and Pina's ears both pointed up, and the two companions looked at each other. With a smile and a nod, they both turned to Kira, with Silica stating "no use sticking around here, let's do it!"

"Yeah!" Both of the two girls stepped to each other, and gave a loud high five before pulling out their menus and switching into their respective gear. The reason Silica was excited to go and step out of her comfort zone was that her goal was to join the clearing group, and she thought this might be a good chance to improve upon her skills.

Stepping out of the base, both girls looked to each other. Silica, who had Pina sitting on her left shoulder, looked at her partner for the day, and asked, "So, ummm…what ARE we going to go?"

Pausing, Kira put her hand on her chin and looked slightly up. As she started to scratch her head, pulling the dark purple and black hood from her robe off of her head, she told Silica was a grin, "Hehe, about that…..you see, Master and I can't fly, so leaving Aincrad is kinda a pain-"

"Wait! Have you not left New Aincrad yet!?" Silica interrupted Kira; she hadn't realized the pair of Jedi's hadn't left New Aincrad in the 3 months they had been there.

The young Jedi quickly shook her hands in front of her body, quickly spilling out words. "What, no! Of course I've left this place; I've been down to ground level PLENTY of times, plenty."

Silica leaned slightly forward with a smile towards Kira, "Come on, it's not a big deal. We can go down and help you learn the layout."

With a sigh, Kira leaned down and talked in a defeated tone, "Alright…" She quickly bolted up, "Let's get going!" Before she could react, Silica was already being dragged alongside Kira, who was running towards the main town's Teleporting Gate.

With a smile, Kira and Silica, who was now flying low beside the fast paced Jedi, but smiled and stated, "To Alfheim!"

Chapter 4, Part 2: A Journey's Start

[An Hour Later – Yggdrasil City]

Silica P.O.V~

Not matter how many times I saw the Fairy Capital, the beauty was something that I couldn't ever quite get tired of, but seeing someone's first time seeing a place like this was one of the few things that got old even less.

I could barely keep up with the speeding Jedi as she ran around the town. "Whoa, this place is huge!" Spilled from Kira's wide-open mouth multiple times.

"It's even prettier at night!" I walked beside the Jedi now, and she smiled at my statement.

"It's been FOREVER since I've seen a place like this. I haven't had a chance to leave the 22nd floor much and explore the other places in Aincrad, so this is awesome!" Words flew from my friend's mouth while we walked along avenues and streets, looking at the large buildings and tiny shops made from the material that they all laid on, the Grand Tree. As we kept walking along, (Well, I was walking, Kira was running in and out of shops looking at all the new items that New Aincrad didn't hold.) I stopped and look at the Jedi I had come here with to ask a simple question, "Hey, Kira…Where are we going to go after this?"

"Huh?" She gave me a confused look, "Oh, right! An Adventure!"

"Well, do you want to go explore, do some shopping, explo-" My sentence was ended quickly.

"EXPLORE!" I didn't usually hang out with Kira alone, so seeing her like this was pretty entertaining if I say so myself. I brought my menu up with my left hand, put on the World Map, and turned it so that Kira, who was walking to my left, could see the map.

"Well, it's most likely safer to go into a neutral territory, since you're not aligned with a fairy race anyone who doesn't know you would consider you an immediate enemy."

I could see Kira's hair shake up and down at my statement. "Seems fair enough. What about down in this desert area?" I noticed her hand shift to the bottom of my map, and quickly shook my head.

"Salamander territory. We don't wanna go there." I informed her.

"But aren't we in an alliance with them? And besides, they should recognize me since I've been in a few boss fights." My confused friend answered.

With a sigh, I told her, "Yes, we are friends with the Salamanders in New Aincrad, but we were told awhile back that no one outside of their race was allowed to go into their territory in Alfheim.

A mischievous look crossed Kira's face, and I quickly became worried. "Let's go there then."

I stumbled to find the word to reject this idea, "I-I'm not sure that's a good idea…" Too late. Before I knew it, Kira was marching off towards the south. "Wait!" She stopped to look back at me. "You can't fly; we have to go that way." My right hand pointed back towards where we had come from, we had passed up the elevator that transferred players between the cities of Yggdrasil and Alne. A defeated look crossed her face, and she started to walk back towards me. When she passed me up, I ended up losing my footing and was dragged along the Jedi towards the old capital of Alfheim, Alne. I decided to not fight it, as I guessed it wasn't worth the energy to end up at the same spot.

After a short while, we ended up at the elevator plaza, and stepping into the surprisingly simple elevator. Once we stepped into the elevator, I pressed the button that would take us to the ground-level city of Alne.

[Outside the Entrance to Alne]

Silica P.O.V~

If felt like we hadn't been walking long before Kira and I ended up outside of the city of Alne, the old Fairy Capital. We had shortly walked a bit further, talking about old stories with friends and out time stuck in our respective worlds. It was odd to be able to talk about SAO so casually with someone outside of the original experience. It was hard for me to remember that this girl who was only a year older than me had been trapped much longer inside of a fantasy world. While walking and laughing, Kira brought up a point.

"Hey, Silica, how do we get to Salamander territory anyways?"

I brought out my map and moved my finger around, tracing from our current spot to the desert area that the Salamanders called home. "It looks like the best way is to go through the Ruger Corridor, it probably isn't extremely safe but it takes out a chance of us running into players." I stated.

"Well look at you, you're really smart Silica." I blushed at the comment and tried to hold down a surprised smile. Why would she say that? All I did was say something obvious.

"Kirito-san told me about a neutral town in the middle of the Corridor that he and Leafa-San used as a break on their way to the World Tree on their original visit to the city. We can go that way and-"

"Why do players avoid it?" I noticed Kira's head tilt as she asked me this.

"Well, as far as I know, it's because the Corridor is a huge no-flying area, so quick escape from danger is extremely hard. If we just go that way, it should be fairly easy." She wasn't listening. I guess after I brought up no-flying area, she had started rubbing the middle of her shoulder blades with her right arm bent back.

"No fair, everything is a no-flying area for me." Kira started pouting, forcing a giggle from my mouth. I had to bring up my hand and cover my mouth to stop it from being heard, but my Jedi companion tilted her head to face me, an unamused look covering her face. Kira shook her head and put her hands at her side. "Never mind, where should we head to first?"

I looked at the map that had still been out up until now and tilted my head, tracing my finger like I had before.

"Nothing is here on the map that shows anything between us and the Corridor, so we should just be able to go straight there."

"Well lets go then." Kira said, calmly this time. I prepared my feet to be dragged out from under me, but instead we both walked side by side. "We have time, so can I ask a question?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure." The gesture surprised me. Most people didn't ask if they could ask me something, they just did.

"I know her name, and what she is….." Who is she tal- "Where did you get the dragon?"

"Huh?" The question surprised me, why did she want to know about Pina?

"I've never seen a dragon before, and the only I HAVE seen, is on your shoulder right now."

"Oh, well I tamed Pina in SAO a long time ago, and when everyone switched their characters to ALO, Pina switched with my character somehow." The happy thoughts of my time with Pina caused me to smile slightly. She really was my best friend.

"Tamed a dragon? Wow, you must be pretty strong!" I realized now the wide violet eyes that Kira was sporting.

I shook my hands in front of my chest while I spilled out words, "W-what, no! I just got lucky is all." It was a bit embarrassing for me whenever I got random compliments from people. I had just noticed how red my face was.

"Come on, you tamed a DRAGON, and a pretty one if I might add." Kira, during my retaliation of the comment, had switched to my left side and had brought up her right hand to pet Pina. After a while of petting Pina while Kira and I talked even more, we ended up passing through a forest and on the opposite side, a mountain standing in front of us.

"How do we get to the entrance?" A confused Kira asked, pointing to the entrance high up the mountain's side.

"Well you just fly!" I yelled, quickly regretting this choice of action. I looked beside me to see an extremely mad Kira staring at me. "I'm sorry! I-I forgot that you couldn't fl-" My words stopped when a slim finger covered my mouth.

"I'll be damned if a wall stops me from going on." I couldn't reply to this. Dust covered my vision, and when it settled a speeding Kira was already half-way up the wall to the entrance. I couldn't move for a minute, I was stunned at the sight of someone running up a straight-upward mountain with pure speed. Before I knew it, Kira had reached the top, and was waving over to me.

"Come on, lets get going!" I could hear the yell that had come from the entrance of the mountain. I quickly took flight, and made my way to the entrance of the Corridor along side of Kira.

"Ready?" Kira asked me, I replied with a nod. We took a few steps in the tunnel, but we hadn't accounted for something. It was dark. Way too dark to see anything, and neither of us had torches or night-vison magic.

"Uh, Kira, this could be a problem." I shyly told her. I saw Kira's right hand move to her left hip, and a long slim object came from her belt. In front of her, Kira held a long silver tube-like object, and without any noticeable movement, a purple light emitted from the left side if the tube. "What are you-?" I hadn't noticed that the light was shining along the narrow tunnel that we were about to go through, giving enough like to be able to easily see.

"Good enough?"

"Perfect!" I bounced with excitement at the trip we were about to take, but quickly stopped when I remembered where we were going. A curios voice replaced my excited one, "Um, Kira, where are we going in Salamander territory exactly?"

"I've heard about a city called Gadan from Salamanders when I take in boss battles, I thought that we could go there."

"That's the Salamander Capital! I think that's a really bad idea." I was extremely nervous to the idea. Of course, like most of the time, my denial was rejected as the Jedi walked away from me. With a sigh, I looked to Pina on my shoulder, "I really hope that we make it there and back soon.

"Kryuuu." Pina mutters while I rubbed under hard neck and walked to catch up with Kira.

Chapter 3, Part 3: Detours in the Dark

[1 Hour Later, the Ruger Corridor]

Silica P.O.V~

Watching Kira fight was something else. She fought the mobs that we had passed by on the level that Kirito fought when I first met him. It was something that I couldn't put words on, watching her bounce around the area's with her violet lightsaber as she sliced up enemies was extraordinary.

"It's really cool to watch you fight." Did I say that? No, Kira did, but she couldn't be talking about me. "You're pretty good."

"W-what? No, I'm not nearly good enough!"

Kira paused for a moment, and started to smile. "Come on, look how far we've gotten so far. Do you think it's just from me fighting? Let's keep going." I had to stop for a moment before the words reached by brain, and I nodded my red face as we continued walking on.

A few minutes passed before Kira paused, as so did I. We had both noticed it, the feeling of eyes watching us. "Silica, we're being followed aren't we?" I nodded my head slowly, confused at why someone was behind us. This wasn't the feeling of mobs following us, but of players. "How far do you think the town is from here?" Our voiced had turned to short whispers.

"Legrue shouldn't be more than a few minutes from here." I tried to recall the map I had looked at before we came into the corridor, careful not to pull out my menu.

"Let's get going then." We started to walk, but footsteps could be heard in the darkness behind us. No, wait, it was in front of us. "Crap, we're surrounded." My eyes went wide at the thought, and Kira pushed her back to mine, each of us facing a different way. I prepared my dagger that was in hand, Pina took flight, and I could only guess Kira had prepared her weapon too.

"Come out, whoever is following." Kira demanded into the dark. The footsteps stopped for a second, but no reply came. "I said come out!" Her voice rose behind me, becoming angrier.

After a few moments of silence, a voice came out. "That weapon, a lightsaber isn't it?" A deepish calm came from Kira's side, the way that we had entered from.

"What's it to you?" Kira asked, still demanding.

"…." Still no reply.

"I said what's it to you?" Kira once again asked.

"What's your allegiance?" This time, the voice of a younger guy came from my side.

"Unallied, I'm not a fairy so I can't be." I remained silent as this went on, staying ready for an attack.

"Ha, fairies, I didn't ask your race. I said-" Red lights covered both sides of the tunnel as both men spoke, "-where's your allegiance?" The lights were unmistakably coming from weapons similar to Kira's, lightsabers. I wasn't sure how I using a dagger in this fight would fair. Before I could think of a strategy, my back started shaking. It wasn't mine, but Kira's. Was she scared?

"Are you deaf, stupid, or both? Answer my question, now." The red light on my backside moved closer, as I guessed so did the man. Kira's body stopped shaking, and I could feel her take a deep breath.

"I fight with my Master and friends, no one else." Kira finally responded loudly.

"Then if you don't fight for the Sith, you are an enemy. Let's end this quickly." The man on my side stepped forward, and I could see him nod. He wore a pitch black cloak that covered his body, as well as black gloves. White hair was sticking from under his hood, and I could see his teeth smiling cruelly in the dark.

"Kira." I whispered.

"Yeah?" My friend replied in the same way I had.

"Are we going to die?" I was terrified at the thought. A shudder went through my body, it was only me and Kira here and we were the youngest in the group of friends. I wasn't sure how we could win.

"…" Silence.

"Kira?"

"You won't die, don't worry." Did she only say that I wouldn't?

Before I could reply, the man in front of me lunged at me, and I jumped from Kira's back towards him. I didn't want to fight, but I had to for now, until we could get out. My dagger should have been immediately run thorough by the lightsaber, but since this was a game, my dagger stood up to the weapon. I was holding my dagger with my blade running against my arm, and the man I was fighting held his weapon the same. Our arms came up and met in the air, and we passed each other. I turned after landing to see the man coming back at me, his lightsaber hilt now facing his arm and the light facing me. He struck his weapon down, but I managed to hold it with my dagger. The light emitting from his lightsaber illuminated his face at our weapons held together, and I could clearly see his face, though it was still hard to make out. Scars filled his face, making it hard to see a person. All you could really tell was the wide grin and the dark brown eyes. I also noticed how he had many black tattoos covering his face, like markings. We broke off from each other, and leaped back.

"Not bad, kid. Too bad I gotta kill you, you're kinda cute." Pervert.

We both ran to each other, and he swung his weapon across from my left to right side, and I lowered myself under it, as the man was well taller than me so his hits were well too high. I pressed my left hand to the ground and lunged passed him, slashing his right side as I did so. A yell could be heard from the younger man who I had injured, and he yelled angrily towards me.

"That's it bitch, I'll stop having fun and start killing you!" The sadistic voice charged at me, his stance low. He ran his sword through where I was standing, but I had already jumped to the side and slashed lightly across his face, and landed sliding to his right. I could see Kira fighting off her attacker as well, but their fight was something different. They jumped across the cave's walls and dashed to kill the other, every hit tying for a vital spot.

"Hey, pay attention to the fight you're in!" The man I was fighting was running towards me now, his voice showing how annoyed he was. He was much slower than me, so if I just kept this up I should've been fine. He stopped a few feet short of me, and took his left hand and faced his palm to me, throwing it to the side. Before I could ask what that was going to do, my body flew to my left side and I slid onto the ground.

_'__What the….did I just fly through the air on my own?_' My thoughts grew confused, and it must have showed.

"Time for you to see the power of the Force, kid." The man's voice was still obviously annoyed, but I almost over looked it as I was thinking of the action that had just happened. After I realized what he had said, I picked myself off of the ground and prepared to lunge at him. As I jumped, he took his left hand and threw it towards the ground, and my body grew heavy and slammed into the rock floor under me. I could see my HP bar in the top left go to about 75% of what it was originally at.

"Crap." I muttered under my breath. I was terrified and it made my body shake. I looked up to see my enemy standing over me.

"STAND UP!" A hard kick hit my right side, and I flew through the air and hit the wall across the tunnel. I looked over towards Kira, but her body had flown and landed next to me.

"Kira…" I tried to shake her while I was lying down. "Kira, please wake up." She had been knocked out, and various cuts covered her body. Her clothes were torn, her robe across the room. The two men came to us, both around the same height.

"Sorry to do this little girl, but anyone who opposes the Sith doesn't have the option to live." The older one spoke softly to me, but I didn't notice as I felt Kira's body start to shake. I crawled so I could see her eyes open up, and I turned her on her back. I looked up at the men, tears filling my eyes.

I shoved my eyes into Kira's chest, and yelled "I DON'T WANT TO DIE KIRA." I sobbed, waiting for my HP to hit zero, I couldn't defend myself as my weapon had gone through the air when I did and I couldn't see it. I could hear wings flapping, and my HP slightly rose to 80%. I lifted my head, still holding Kira, and Pina landed next to me. "Pina…" I whispered.

"Kryuu" The short reply met my ears. Pina prepared to heal Kira, but I felt a tug on my right arm. Kira slowly began to stand up, her lightsaber still in hand.

"Sorry, I told you that you're not going to die." She pushed her legs apart, but her body shook unsteadily. Her face was bruised and bloody, as I just noticed my was from the few moves my enemy had landed. But she still stood up, and held her right arm behind her. Her lightsaber emitted purple lights from both sides of the long hilt, and she prepared to fight. The Sith she had been fighting brought his lightsaber from his black cloak, and pointed it to Kira.

"If you want to die that much quicker, I'll assist you." He continued to speak calmly and stepped towards us.

"Silica, Master Emile will be really pissed off if we die, so let's fight." Kira's words word strong even though her body was unsteady. The man that was about to kill us, brought his right arm diagonally across his body, and froze for a moment.

"W-who did you say?" The voice came from the younger man, who had taken a step back, his body shaking.

The man, who was holding up his saber, stepped back as well. "Did you say, Master Emile?"

Kira nodded her head. "Master Emile Carrick, the man who wouldn't let the two of you live in this situation."

"You're lying, that's it." The older man said. "Who is you're Master!? Tell the truth!" His calm voice grew angry now, or was it...scared? The man raised his lightsaber, and lunged towards Kira, but she lunged lower. She stood a foot behind the man, her lightsaber on the opposing side of her body now. What did she do? My question was answered when something hit the ground under the man. Blood. It was blood that quickly filled the ground under his feet, only a few feet from me. I stood up and went to my right, and Pina flew beside me. I saw the man's HP fall to zero, and his top half slid from his left. I quickly looked away, and a thud hit the ground. I looked towards the other Sith, who was shaking in fear. He brought out his lightsaber and shifted his eyes towards me. I looked behind him and saw my dagger, only a couple feet from him.

"Y-You…..YOU BITCH!" His scream filled the cave as he ran towards me, but I easily jumped to his left and rolled to my dagger. I picked it up as he turned to come to me again. I prepared the weapon to attack, but the man stopped again. He raised his hands, but I didn't fly. Instead, something blue went to his fingertips. Before I could register what it was, lightning came from his fingers. I froze. Before I was hit, my life tried to flash before my eyes, but I couldn't quite finish. A purple blade came in front of me, it's holder beside me. The blade stopped the lightning from hitting me, she saved my life.

"Silica, I need to you stop him." Stop him? She didn't mean killing him, did she? I didn't have time to think, as the lightning stopped and Kira flew to her right and slid across the floor. I could see the man's left hand out to his side, and I guessed he had used the Force to hurt Kira. With a yell, he jumped at me one last time. I could see the opening, but I didn't know if I could take it. After that, I jumped to my left and the lightsaber struck downward where I had been. The man quickly shifted to his right and slashed diagonally upward at me, sparks coming off the ground as he dragged his lightsaber. I jumped out of the way. I couldn't do it, I can't kill a person. I can't do it. I kept jumping as he slashed at me, but eventually I ended up with my back to the wall. I held my dagger up to stop attack coming down at me. He kept pulling his blade back and slamming it against my dagger, pushing me lower to the ground. This was it, I was going to die. I was too weak to kill for my survival, I couldn't do it. He brought his saber down and my arms gave out, falling to my side.

I looked to see Kira still on the ground, her fight had worn her out too much, and she couldn't fight anymore. This was it. My life fully flashed before my eyes this time, as I sat on the ground with my legs under me, arms to the side. I was going to die here; this was one adventure I should've said no to.

"Hehe, this is for my comrades that the Jedi have killed!" His blade came down, but it never hit me. I looked up to see if a purple light had stopped it, but it wasn't. It wasn't a purple light; it wasn't a light at all. It was a long black blade that came from my left side, it was blocking the saber that was about to come down on me. I looked up to see the slender black figure standing next to me, saving me. His face was clearly seen from the red light he had stopped.

I whispered the only words I could find. "Kirito…"

The Spriggan that had saved me forced the lightsaber and wielder back, taking his stance in front of me.

"You ok?" He spoke calmly, but he breathed heavy as if he was exhausted.

I took a moment for me to reply to the question, but I finally managed a, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Look, more people to kill!" The man interrupted the conversation with a yell, the sadistic smile he had originally taking its place again. "Come on, I've been waiting for a fairy that could actually fight back!" Kirito, who was looking at the man, took a step forward. After that, the man lunged for him.

"Kirito-San, watch out!" I yelled, but I could suddenly see the man who I had been fighting's face clearly. Kirito wasn't standing where he had been, he was gone. I saw a black figure above the man, and the man tried to turn to see him. Too late; The Spriggan was already slamming the man into the ground face first. Kirito slashed both of the man's arms, taking them clean off while he stood on him. I couldn't tell how I felt about the scene in front of me, but the fight was over before it started. Without either arms, the man couldn't fight.

"Stay down." Kirito spoke, a frustrated look covering his face. "How is she?" Was he talking to me? I turned to my side towards Kira to see a figure standing over her. The person picked her up, and I could tell who it was by the light-grey robes he wore.

"Emile-San…." The words escaped my lips. They both found us somehow.

"Leave him, we need to take these two back to the base, he can't fight without his arms." Emile talked calmly towards Kirito, and was met with a nod.

"**Oss nona nott lysa auga.**" As Kirito talked, a sphere of words surrounded him, and I could suddenly see the cave perfectly, as if the whole thing was lightly lite. He had cast a night vision spell, and we could all see clearly I guessed. Kirito walked to me, and stuck his right hand out after sheathing his sword. "Come on, let's go." I slowly reached for his hand, and felt myself become lighter as he picked me up off the ground. "You should really stop letting me find you in these kinds of situations, Silica." A smile covered the face of the Spriggan, his eyes closed as he did this. Tears once again filled my eyes as I grabbed Kirito's clothes, and shoved my face into them.

"Thank you, Kirito-San." I struggled to find the words.

"Come on, the others are going to be relieved that we found you." He still spoke softly. I nodded my head and wiped my eyes, turning to the exit. Kirito and I started walking towards the exit, as did Emile who was holding the unconscious Kira. I could hear the footsteps, and turned when they stopped behind us. Emile was stopped a little past the Sith who was lying on the ground, and spoke harshly to him.

"If you or any Sith hurt these two girls, or anyone I call 'friend', I won't hesitate to wipe your Order of the face of this world." With those words, he continued to walk behind me and Kirito, and I looked forward. After a short while of walking, (And Kirito telling me how they had finished the boss fight and when they got back to base and saw the note I had left that said Kira and I were going to be gone for a while they all got worried after a while and came to look for us. How they found us, he wouldn't say,) we ended up finding the exit to the tunnel, and made it back to the base by dinner.

"Next time, tell us before you go, ok?" The words Kirito had told me before we walked into the base stayed in my mind for the rest of the night. All four of us entered the house, and I was quickly met with Liz running up to me and hugging me.

"Hey, Liz-san. I'm back."

"Where did you guys go!?" Liz demanded from me.

I looked behind me to see that Kira had finally waken up, and with a weak smile and soft voice, she answered Liz's question.

"An adventure."


End file.
